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Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Instant Family, Add Preacher

Congratulations to "Taurus", the winner in Maggie's giveaway. Thank you to all who participated!

I married a man who is
custodial parent to two children. I am the not-so-wicked step-mother. After
having his attention focused solely on them for five years, my husband's kids
were excited that their father had found somebody to deflect for them. I think they
also liked having a female in the house. When we married, my son was just seven
years old and my daughter about to turn eleven. I went from being a single
professional woman living in an apartment in Chicago, to being a married mother
of two in a 980 square-foot house in Arkansas.

Instant family, add preacher.

So there we were, all five of
us squashed together—me, my husband, our two children, and a dog who chased her
tail. I don't mean figuratively. Precious literally chased her own tail. More
often than not, she caught it.

For many women, the first toy
they were given as a child was a baby doll. We were programmed from early on
that we should configure our lives with an eye toward motherhood. There's
nothing wrong with wanting to be a mom. As the last child of older parents, I
always thought I'd be married by my mid 20s and be done having my kids in my
early 30s. Obviously, my present family situation is not what I imagined when I
was a little girl playing with my baby dolls.

I married at thirty-two, became
a mother at thirty-two, and realized that the two children I was raising were
already almost halfway grown. I've never been one to feel the biological clock
ticking, so I didn’t think starting over again with my husband was an
imperative. My stepchildren have never been anything less than my children. Period.

Families come in all shapes and
sizes. Some are created, others are chosen. In my new series, we are introduced
to three women who meet and fall in love with full-time dads. The heroine of
the first book, PLAY DATES, is a single professional woman named Monica Rayburn.
Of the three, she might be the most like me. Monica meets Colm Cleary, and the
next thing she knows, her ideas about what she wants out of life are turned on
their ear.

Here's an excerpt from PLAY
DATES:

“I’d like to make a couple of rules
for the evening, if you’re game.”

“I think I might be game.” She gave
him a coy half-smile. “What kind of rules did you have in mind?”

He watched in rapt fascination as
she ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “No kid talk,” he blurted. Colm
grimaced when he saw her flinch the slightest bit. “I mean, they’re great, and
Aiden is the most important person in the world to me, as I’m sure Emma is for
you,” he continued in a rush. “But you have no idea how long it’s been since
I’ve had an adult night out. And I have to admit, even longer since I’ve had
one with a woman.” He cringed a little when her eyebrows shot upward. “I mean,
like I said at the park, a date. With a woman. Not a guy. Not that there’s
anything wrong with that.” He added the line with a nervous chuckle, and at
last she cracked.

Her laugh rang out, clear and
unchecked. The sound held the barest hint of rasp, but every hair on his arms
rose in response. “Okay. I’m with you. No kid talk.”

Relieved, he set his menu aside and
reached for the IPA Especial he’d ordered. The beer was cold and crisp but did
little to quench the thirst building inside of him.

“Listen, I don’t want to…Like I
said, it’s been a long time. And I know I said I don’t want to talk about the
kids—and I don’t—but I feel like I should be straight with you.”

Monica lowered her menu but raised
an eyebrow. “Okay. Be straight.”

He winced at the implication but
didn’t take the bait. “I don’t know how…involved I can get. I don’t have time
to catch up on laundry, much less dating, and I’d hate—”

She held up one hand to stop him.
“Colm.”

“Yes?”

“It’s fine. Let’s just…see how
things go.”

He exhaled loudly and turned loose
a relieved smile. “Sounds good.”

Returning her attention to the
menu, she murmured, “As long as you are straight.”

“Oh, I am,” he assured her.

Giveaway:Has your life turned out exactly as you planned? If not, what's been
your biggest surprise so far? Comment below to be entered to win a copy of book
one in my Coastal Heat series, GOING DEEP!

For single
parents, life is often more diapers and daycare dilemmas than dating. But for
three dads going solo, a little flirting can lead to a whole lot more than a
fling . . .Colm Cleary lost his wife just moments after his
son Aiden’s birth, and it’s been just the two of them ever since. Dating is his
very last priority—until he spots gorgeous Monica Rayburn on the playground
with her little girl. Suddenly finding a woman sympathetic to the demands of
single parenthood seems like a great idea—especially if they agree to a
no-pressure, no-strings date . . .Dazzled by the hot “Saturdaddy” who asks her
out, Monica doesn’t get around to mentioning that little Emma is her niece.
She’s in commodities, not children. A gambler to the bone, she’s going to take
a chance on an adult evening with Colm—and worry about the details later. But
when their casual connection deepens into something more solid, the truth will
have to come out—and both Colm and Monica will have to throw caution to the
wind to hold on to a future together . . .

Maggie Wellsis
a deep-down dirty girl with a weakness for hot heroes and happy endings. By day
she is buried in spreadsheets, but at night she pens tales of people tangling
up the sheets. The product of a charming rogue and a shameless flirt, this
mild-mannered married lady has a naughty streak a mile wide.

Fueled
by supertankers of Diet Coke, Maggie juggles fictional romance and the real
deal by keeping her slow-talking Southern gentleman constantly amused and their
two grown children mildly embarrassed.

Giveaway ends 11:59pm EST Oct. 5th. Please supply your email in the post. You may use spaces or full text for security. (ex. jsmith at gmail dot com) If you do not wish to supply your email, or have trouble posting, please email maureen@JustContemporaryRomance.com with a subject title of JCR GIVEAWAY to be entered in the current giveaway.

It goes both ways for me. Hubby and Kids AWESOME (Actually Today is My 15th Wedding Anniversary) Other stuff I was hoping would be better and/or different at this point in my life. I've got a Good, Happy, Healthy Life and Family for the most part so I'm Happy with my life all around. (Still hoping to win the lottery ;P Haha) Thanks for the giveaway

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